Steven Gerrard spares England’s blushes against Hungary
Captain Steven Gerrard spared England’s blushes as he scored two goals inside four minutes in a 2-1 win over Hungary in a friendly.
Hungary had taken the lead when defender Phil Jagielka turned the ball into his own net – a goal which looked to have been cleared by Michael Dawson before it crossed the line. However, a long-range strike from Gerrard was followed by a tidy finish after the midfielder dodged past three defenders to pick up the win.
Capello had stuck with seven of the men who made the trip to South Africa - John Terry, Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson, Gareth Barry, Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney – with goalkeeper Joe Hart, Jagielka and wingers Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson making up the rest of the starting 11.
After being slated in many quarters for his insistence in sticking with a rigid 4-4-2 formation during the failed 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign in South Africa, Capello tried a more adventurous 4-3-3 with Rooney as the lone striker and Walcott and Johnson providing width while Barry’s defensive capabilities allowed Gerrard and Lampard to roam forward in attack.
On the offensive
England were on the offensive for the most part with plenty of energy and some tidy passing moves leading them up the Wembley surface in the early going, but a well-structured Hungary unit was able to break down most of the opposition attacks before they had a chance to create any clear-cut chances.
The impressive possession play soon resulted in a great chance for Adam Johnson to open the scoring when Walcott broke into the penalty area and played an incisive cut-back. However, the young Manchester City player shot over the crossbar from 14 yards out.
Though there were no goals in the first half, England continued to press forward. Gerrard came close to net the opener from a free-kick which saw goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly panic before pushing the ball over the goal. While England had been keen to keep the tempo high as they sought to take the lead, the pace was sapped out of the match as the first 45 minutes wore on and Hungary were able to start making some moves of their own.
Three men make debuts
Half-time saw debutants Dawson, Bobby Zamora and Kieran Gibbs make an appearance along with Ashley Young. The changes saw Capello move back towards a 4-4-2 with Zamora teaming up with Rooney up front.
The opening goal came after 63 minutes when Fulham’s Zoltan Gera was afforded space by Dawson to fire in a cross towards a team-mate, but unfortunately for the home team the ball was deflected off Jagielka to allow the visiting fans to dream of a famous victory.
Gerrard managed to put paid to such thoughts six minutes later. After Rooney made way for the Manchester City-bound James Milner, the Liverpool star rifled in a shot from all of 20 yards to restore parity to the match. Four minutes later, he gave the home support more reason to cheer when he picked up a pass from Young and dodged incoming opposition players before slotting home the winner.
Arsenal youngster Jack Wilshere replaced Gerrard on 82 minutes, allowing the match-winner to leave the pitch to a huge ovation from the England supporters.
After the match, Capello told reporters that: "I enjoyed it. I concentrated on the game and wanted to see everything. I'm happy for the performance. We played the first 30 minutes well, the last 10 minutes of the first half not so well. It was not easy to play against them because they were really compact. But I was happy. The second half we saw more players, different players, young players and the performance was really good. I think we found some new young players for the future. The fans were really good - thank you. It surprised me. We hope we can win something for these fans."
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